QLD energy minister rebukes federal smart meters

Queensland energy minister Mark McArdle has said the Commonwealth's smart meters could add up to $500 a year to consumers' bills.

The minister stated that these smart meters are just going to increase electricity prices even though there are cheaper technologies that will deliver tariff reforms.

He suggested that turning to a time of day pricing system would ensure that households would save money and could be attained through the current electronic interval meters that are currently being rolled out across the Sunshine State.

Such meters, he added, could be rolled out at a much cheaper rate than the smart meters, and can undertake the time of day pricing structure, which the Commonwealth has been looking for.

Half a million of these electronic interval meters have been put into Queensland homes in the last decade.

He commented: "Most customers will never use this technology, yet they will be forced to pay for it by the Commonwealth.

"In the case of Victoria, the entire state has had smart meters imposed on it and they are not well used and have added to already higher electricity rates in that state compared to Queensland."